Microsoft has dethroned Apple as the world’s most valuable company, as its foray into generative AI continues to lift its share price.
Shares of the software giant jumped 2% on Thursday, pushing the company’s market valuation to $2. 903 trillion. At the same time, Apple’s market capitalization fell to $2. 871 trillion after the stock fell 0. 9%, marking the first time since 2021 that the iPhone maker’s has fallen. under Microsoft’s.
However, as of Thursday afternoon, Apple had regained its shares and Microsoft’s valuation fell to $2. 849 trillion.
The stock’s rally came shortly after Microsoft reported that its profit rose 7% to $52. 9 billion in the third quarter, beating analysts’ expectations, according to the company’s financial statements. These gains are largely due to the Redmond, Washington-based company’s efforts to integrate AI generation into its cloud computing operations, according to the statement.
Microsoft stepped up its AI projects in early 2023 with the announcement of a multi-year, $10 billion investment in OpenAI from Sam Altman, the ChatGPT startup, the generational disruptor that shook the world in 2023.
While Apple is the first U. S. company to reach a $3 trillion market value in 2022, the drop in the company’s iPhone sales, which account for a large portion of its profits, hurts the company’s stock price, which has since fallen below the threshold. One of the last big tech players in the red-hot AI market, it has not benefited from the AI-driven stock market gains seen through Microsoft and others.
Several big tech companies, including Google, Amazon, and Meta, have boosted their stock prices by announcing plans to expand their own AI-based chatbots or integrate the generation into their products or operations, the Motley Fool reported. Companies that discussed AI saw their inventory costs increase an average of 4. 6%, while those that didn’t only saw a 2. 4% increase, according to inventory research platform Wall Street Zen.
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